NH Birthday theme
by gavingrantgavin
Summary: Another prompt I did for an NH fanfic contest. Naruto can't think of anything to give Hinata for her birthday. They have a playful conversation in a cafe.


Hinata's birthday was tomorrow and Naruto Uzumaki could not, for his life, think of anything to get her. After racking his brains for the last week, he gave up and asked Hinata meet him at a cafe to ask her directly. He knew this was the lamest way possible to go about giving a birthday present –especially to the girl you're dating–, but he guessed it was either this or Hinata's birthday would pass without her getting a present from his boyfriend, which would be worse and may lead him to be secretly attacked by white-eyed shinobi in some dark alley at night. And in this fine sunny afternoon, Naruto found himself in front of the cafe and from inside it Hinata was looking at him with a blank face. Naruto hesitated for a few seconds and then went in.

"Hello, sir, may I...", a waitress started to say, but Naruto cut her off impatiently.

"Someone's waiting for me old lady", Naruto said walking past her –he didn't notice the waitress' smile waiver at being called an old lady– and making his way to the table were Hinata sat, still not letting any emotion show on her face. When he got to the table Hinata smiled a smile as inscrutable as her blank expression.

"Please", she said laconically, pointing to the chair on the opposite side of table. Naruto sat down slowly as if trying to delay an inevitable disaster. He looked around the cafe: mostly couples filled the rest of the tables. "Can all those guys figure out what to get their girlfriends for their birthdays?", Naruto thought. "I can't be the only one, right?"

"Naruto-kun...", Hinata's voice snapped him back to reality. Naruto fumbled for something to say, but only came up with buying more time, so he raised him hand and called to the waitress, a young girl with ponytails came almost skipping with a pen and a notepad, ready to take their order.

"Before we talk about that, let's order something; all on me", Naruto said putting on his best smile. Hinata said she wanted tea and went silent again. "uhmm... yeah, what she ordered". The waitress nodded and left. Once she was at a distance Naruto thought she wouldn't hear their conversation he said, looking as pleading as he could "look, I know what you want to say, but I swear I tried my best this year. It didn't work". He looked around again, silently asking for help; he found none, he was on his own. In this moment he wished he was as smart as Shikamaru, maybe he'd be able come up with a plan to get out of this mess.

Hinata didn't respond and the blank expression was back. Her eyes looking straight at his –in any other circumstance it would romantic, in this one it was rather ominous– under her long bangs. "Last year...", she started to say and Naruto's already pointy hair stood on its end, "it was ramen", she finished emphasizing the word _ramen_ and went silent again. And there it was as he had expected, the already legendary story of how the Savior of the World walked into the Hyuuga compound with only a bowl of ramen as a birthday present for the heiress –and not even the most expensive one available at Ichiraku– and of how he almost didn't make it out alive. Even after a year his friends still didn't let him live it through and villagers still joked that maybe the ramen had been a little too spicy for lord Hiashi.

"That was a mistake, but you know ramen is the food a love the most, so if I give it to you that means I love you the most, right?", Naruto said completely out of ideas. He was at her mercy. In an untimely manner the waitress chose this moment to come with a tray, two teacups perfectly balanced on it. She put them on the table, said "please enjoy" and left. Naruto took a sip hoping for a moment that it was poison.

"Then two years ago, the 'The Sexy no Jutsu performance', how do you explain that, Naruto-kun?", the smile was back and with a pinkish tint on her cheeks. "It was so embarrassing", she added looking away like she was feeling the embarrassment all over again. Naruto had nothing to say and slumped, defeated, on his chair. That was another story that made Konoha laugh for months: the story of how the Savior of the World, with his trusty sidekick, Konohamaru, gave what he called a 'Sexy no Jutsu performance' to his girlfriend as a birthday present and was almost beaten to death by both the Hyuuga and Sakura. "But at least it was funny, right?", Naruto thought. "Funny?", Hinata said as if reading his mind, "yeah, it all feels like joke, so that's why I fee…"

"No!", Naruto stood up, his chair fell back. "I know I'm a mess, but we have fun and we love each other, right? I mean… Hinata?", Naruto stopped his heated barrage of words because Hinata was completely red and shaking in her seat, covering her mouth with her hand. "Eh? Hinata, you okay?", he was going to get closer to her to check if she was okay, when Hinata burst out laughing. It didn't happen often and it was music to Naruto's ears, but he so confused that he didn't know how to feel about this one.

"I couldn't hold it in anymore, Naruto-kun", she said when she finally stopped laughing. The other customers had turned to look at them, surprised. "you looked so worried outside of the café that I couldn't help myself. I like how you are Naruto-kun, I'm not going to leave you; not now and not ever", this she said completely serious.

"I completely fell for it", Naruto said sitting down, relieved. If Naruto had realized anything about Hinata in the two years they had been dating is that under her shy personality lied a very playful girl and that part of her started to come out when they started going out, but Naruto still wasn't used to it and still wondered where good old shy Hinata had gone, though the '-kun' remained. "So it's fine to ask what you want for your birthday?", asked Naruto feeling a landmine –though it would an imaginary one– avoided.

"Yeah, I want…, then suddenly she stopped and when she continued she was blushing and looking down. "Can I come over to your house tomorrow, Naruto-kun?"

Ah, there she was: her adorable side. Naruto smiled. It reminded him of when he first met her, though back then he didn't imagine what this girl would mean to him. But then he realized what she was asking and stood up again. "Sure!", he said so loud that, again, the other customers turned to look at them.


End file.
